WAMU 88.

5 - COMMUNITY COUNCIL MEETING

Minutes
Wednesday, February 12, 2020

WAMU Community Council Members Attending:

Navroz Gandhi, Sojin Kim, Michele Manatt, Susan Weiss, Maura Brophy, Manuel Ochoa, David Bradley, Avis Thomas-
Lester, Maura Brophy, Alexis Moreno, Peter Tannenwald, Matt McCormick, Nakeisha Neal Jones, Raymond Weeden,
Heather Voorman, Christy Gavitt and CC Gachet

WAMU/AU Staff Attending:

Seth Grossman, JJ Yore, Carey Needham, Andi McDaniel, Dawnita Altieri, Gabe Bullard, Lauren Centrella, Melissa Glass,
Stephanie Shweiki, Lynn Croneberger, Amy Powers, Stephanie Shweiki, Jeffrey Katz

Volunteers: Mitch Greenberg, Carol Ann Rudolph, Nanci Gius

Members of the Public Attending: Loretta Neumann, Sara Green

I. Welcome – Navroz Gandhi, Council Chair and Old Business

At 7:22 pm, Navroz Gandhi called the meeting to order. He welcomed new council members approved at the December
2019 meeting. The Chair made a motion to approve the December 4, 2019, minutes, Vice-Chair Susan Weiss seconded
the motion. The motion to approve the minutes was passed.

Members were asked if they had questions about the report sent in advance. There weren’t any questions about
materials sent in advance. The meeting moved to the General Manager’s update.

II. Manager’s Update – JJ Yore, General Manager

JJ Yore began his presentation with comments about the Community Council’s important role as representatives of our
audience and said that one of the goals of the quarterly meetings is to have dynamic discussions in future meetings. JJ
thanked Navroz and Susan for their leadership of the Council.

JJ shared the details of the successful What’s With Washington event and pointed to the signed copies of Diane Rehm’s
new book On My Mind that each council member received. JJ shared that Diane is currently on a limited book tour in
areas around the country and that Ms. Rehm is also working on a documentary on the same topic that will come out in
about a year on PBS stations.

Council Members were updated on the progress of the 1A host search. The hiring team has been working hard and
building a list of host candidates to meet. The team will cull down the list and invite NPR to weigh in on candidates then
have a final selection of candidates to meet in March, if all goes as planned. The search team is meeting weekly to
review their progress and to create a final list of candidates.

Rob Bertrand, Sr. Director of Technical Operations provided a status update on the construction of WAMU’s tower at
AU. Rob described the antenna project and the challenges surrounding the construction project including the manpower
and people involved in replacing the tower. Rob shared a piece of the old antenna with Council members.

In February 2020, WAMU will introduce new programming changes and Andi McDaniel, Sr. Director of Content and
News shared the changes with Council members. The World and PBS News Hour have driven these changes and WAMU
wants to try to share these international perspectives with the audience. Content leaders also believe these shows will
be a strong addition to the weekend evening schedule. The station has been underperforming and the hope is that these
changes can grow audience at that time slot. JJ, Andi and Lettie will watch to see how these shows perform and will do a
deep dive annually.

Lynn Croneberger, Chief Development Officer described the merger of Development and Membership teams as a new
fundraising group. She shared the organizational chart as well as, the overall fundraising goal for her department.

III. Feature Presentation: The Affordability Beat

JJ introduced the Affordability beat team and described how the project came into creation. Gabe explained the
superbeat and the project outcomes. He then gave the soft launch numbers from the story “Priced Out”.

 Gabe Bullard, Senior Editor

 Lauren Centrella, Asst. Director of Development
 Melissa Glass, Director of Marketing & Communications
 Stephanie Shweiki, Local Sales Director

Following the presentation, there was one question posed to Jeffrey Katz, News Director about the super beat.

What is the long-term plan for Affordability beat?

Jeffrey Katz responded that the topic could become prominent throughout the year and could be an opportunity with
real momentum. The newsroom has about a dozen reporters, but currently only have single reporters covering
education and transportation. If we can succeed, we can have other beats that can dig much deeper on various topics.
We can find more solutions and cover the region and can look at topics that transcend it. We don’t yet know how long
this beat will continue but we are going to see how it progresses with audiences.

IV. New Business & Announcements – Navroz Gandhi, Chair

Navroz addressed Council members about finding ways to become more active in their roles as ambassadors to WAMU
and to better share feedback with station leaders. He asked members to start thinking about ideas or suggestions for
better engagement and to send the ideas to him or Susan. Navroz will send a reminder email to members in mid-March.
This idea will be more deeply discussed at May meeting.

Quarterly meeting date changes were shared with Council members and were reflected in the dates listed in the
meeting dates. Changes were made to the meeting dates for the following months: December 2020, September 2021
and December 2021.

V. Public Comments

Loretta Neumann, sustaining member of WAMU and Sara Green discussed a recent Kojo Nnamdi Show and his guests
who discussed solar panels in historic districts. They wanted to make sure that shows continue to provide a balance on
all topics.

The meeting was adjourned at 9pm and was seconded by Nakeisha.

Dates for Quarterly Meetings- Updated:

o 2020: February 12, May 6, September 9, December 2
o 2021: February 10, May 5, September 8, December 1